May 29 began with an appointment at the University of Bern. This time, I met Marc Bühlmann, the director of Année Politique Suisse (APS) and employee at the university’s institute of political science. Since 1967, the APS is documenting Swiss politics. I was quite amazed when Marc told me that the team is consulting around 50 newspapers, in order to contextualize actions undertaken in the Federal Palace and to trace the effects of decisions that were made. The detailed texts on their website are structured into 24 categories. This classification has become apparent over the last decades and has proven successful until today. Marc spoke of the political discourse as a cycle with recurring topics, debates and problems. He deems the perception of politics as a network as especially important. Every action has consequences, and everything is connected.
From his point of view, the biggest challenges of our app in the objective presentation of information and; with the handling of the fact that most political self-education is done in order to justify one’s own gut feeling – instead of challenging one’s personal position. As a result, the app could potentially harden political fronts: the opposite of what we want. Furthermore, he sees the danger of simplified information being too simplified, resulting in a distorted, false depiction of reality. Naturally, this must be prevented at all costs.
I am glad that received the permission to use APS’ vast collection of information, and that I may contact Marc for any further questions!
Marc says that one day, he too would like to work on a game which gives insights into the nature of politics. After not only teaching me about politics but also sharing brilliant ideas on game mechanics, I can imagine that quite well.
